Articles of the year 2016

The news that Nawaz Sharif is leaving for a two-day visit is surprising but he has been known to wander off at critical times. The travel fever is so acute that his governance suffers and so does the country. Unfortunately, his kitchen cabinet is none too bright and his achievements are a fraction of what they should be, but leaving at probably the most crucial point in the nation’s history may be fatal.
With the Panama paper bombshell two prime ministers have already fallen. The British prime minister is hanging by a thread, the entire political strata is shaking and the aftershocks continuing with no end in sight. At this stage when Nawaz is a prominent figure in the Panama leaks, he should be in hiding instead of being spotted in the West End. This will definitely tarnish an image already under siege. No self respecting leader will reach out and will certainly not take any calls other than Zardari, the erstwhile ten percent who has decided against a comeback. Unfortunately for Nawaz, the prime minister is so cloistered that he has no clue of the outside world. This trip to London will be a revelation. The English media is voracious. They would love to tear apart a current high profile target. It is a journalist’s dream. Unfortunately for Pakistan, he is our current prime minister and to be torn apart by the media shows bad sense.
The political landscape in Pakistan is in for a major shake up. Pakistan is indeed lucky that circumstances have lead to the unmasking of many international politicians with many having offshore accounts used for keeping properties under shell companies.

In an earlier piece I had written that to own an offshore account is not necessarily illegal but the properties that are placed therein have to be legally owned and tax paid. World War II saw a traumatized Europe with the Nazis seizing anything they desired and the Jews who were among the wealthiest Europeans, lost everything they owned except for their deposits in Swiss banks. After the war, many of the account holders found the Swiss rates too high and the Swiss being shrewd players cut their interest rates till at one point you have to pay the Swiss interest to keep your money there, their rationale being that safety comes at a price! This was the opportunity for other countries like Panama, Luxembourg, Monaco and the Cayman Islands. Even large multinational companies use these shell companies for ease of portability.
However, many Pakistanis who are loathe to pay tax of any kind love the secrecy and seek out banks that offer the most secrecy. In Pakistan the top bankers boast how their clients are the most protected! The Sharifs, and the other Pakistanis who have been avoiding Pakistani taxes for years found it convenient and of course light on the wallet. They also ensured that the tax savings could be passed along to the respective tax authorities to make the transaction smoother.
The PM’s trip at this point in time is dangerous and he may not return. He has enough stashed away to last a life time but the new governments will want to get their hands on the loot.

The army has been doing a magnificent job in reigning in the Taliban at a great cost in our brave jawans. General Raheel Shareef is to be congratulated on getting the rebels cleared out of most of the affected areas. Even though some of the politicos from Punjab resisted the religious parties who have a huge stake in the thousands of madrassas spread over the country and a source of cannon fodder against our own army. This is courtesy of our Saudi friends who chose to fight their wars on our turf by funding their sects to fight against the Shias. Gen Raheel has been recognized as an upright soldier and his first mission was to go to the Arabs and tell them bluntly that this war on our turf must stop and it did.
Also the Americans and the Brits were promoting and protecting the corruption of the Bhutto’s and Sharifs and of course the MQM, who destroyed the peaceful city of Karachi turning into a den of extortion and target killings. Kalishnakovs and killers could be rented by the day or by the body. The streets of Karachi were not safe neither were the factory owners. One factory was asked for 20 crores and on not being able to pay it was burned down with 225 workers burned alive. The owner had to flee for their lives and are hiding in Dubai. Luckily for Pakistan, Gen. Raheel took command of the army and sorted out the MQM and the Taliban. A remarkable job.

However, the United States and the British continued their treating Pakistan as their lackey and insisted on bringing back the leaders of their choice. So we were lumbered with Benazir, MQM and Nawaz under the infamous NRO which was a blanket amnesty for all these criminals. It would have been far better to have learned our lessons ourselves without these corrupt teachers foisted upon us. Condoleeza Rice gloatingly acknowledges in her book drafting and forcing the NRO upon a hapless Gen. Musharraf.
It is in the same vein that Zardari and Nawaz ran the country with the two carving up the country into lucrative parts while the country regressed.
Now that the world has been exposed to all the so-called democrats being caught dodging taxes, we Pakistanis should be left to our own devices and the country should run itself. The US and the British governments should be billed for the billions of dollars siphoned out of Pakistan. Under the US/UK tutelage we have amassed a debt of over $30 billion since 1988, a scant twenty eight years of this hugely expensive lesson in democracy. The people have no water, no electricity and no education. So the US friendship has come at a great cost and no benefit.
We would rather have an honest man like Gen. Raheel with or without uniform. Let us be done withe these robbers.